AP PHOTOS: Virus haunts the destitute living on the margins

By MOSA'AB ELSHAMY
In a housing complex in the Moroccan city of Sale, over 900 people live in crowded rooms without running water or an income to support them. While the North African country entered total lockdown in mid-March, self-isolation and social distancing are a luxury that families in this complex cannot afford.

Some families have lived in their room for 40 years, steadily filling it with children and grandchildren, with some rooms housing up to 10 people. Almost all are marginalized, and since the outbreak of COVID-19, those who had jobs – such as working in gas stations or selling small items on the streets - have been left with no way to make a living.

Like countries around the world, Morocco is facing the challenge of how to protect populations from the fast-spreading virus while not punishing the poor.

In early March, the Moroccan government began rolling out measures to stem the spread of the virus, culminating in the ongoing lockdown that has turned once bustling cities into ghost towns.

Borders, schools, shops, companies, cafes and mosques have closed. Movement between cities is restricted. Only one member of each household is permitted to leave in order to buy necessities, and those who work in essential jobs must have government-approved permission slips to show at checkpoints or risk facing up to three months in prison.

As the measures started to pinch vulnerable families, Morocco approved emergency support packages to people not registered in public or private sector jobs, ranging from $80 to $120. The fund supporting such measures was established by Moroccan King Mohamed VI, and saw mobilization by institutions, businesses and officials.

At the housing complex in Sale’s old medina, children hang around the communal courtyard and run through narrow alleyways. Families share one room where they wash clothes, and fill buckets of water at public fountain

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In this in Wednesday, March 25, 2020 photo, a dog owned by one of the residents of a housing complex sits in his kennel in Sale, near Rabat, Morocco. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)



In this in Wednesday, March 25, 2020 photo, Ilias, 61, sit in his room in a housing complex in Sale, near Rabat, Morocco. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)



In this in Wednesday, March 25, 2020 photo, Kaddour El Miny, 55, poses with his equipment for selling water, which he can no longer use, in a housing complex in Sale, near Rabat, Morocco. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)



In this in Wednesday, March 25, 2020 photo, Warda, a mother, poses with her son Mohamed and her daughter Jannat in their room in a housing complex in Sale, near Rabat, Morocco. Hundreds of people live in crowded rooms in this Moroccan housing complex with no running water and no income left because of the coronavirus lockdown measures. However volunteers come to help clean as the government tries to protect the population from virus while not punishing the poor. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)